All the ten years that Oksana had to live in Germany, she longed for the moment to return home. She was loved over there; Chusovitina competed for Germany and earned several brilliant victories for that nation. Everything was perfect there, and she lived in between the two countries. Yet every time she landed at Berlin airport she would cry. And as soon as her son Alisher defeated the disease, she could not miss a chance to return. Since it’s only here, in Uzbekistan, that Oksana Chusovitina feels happy.
She cannot even explain why. We sit opposite one another, and Oksana selects words to describe the phenomenon, but they all boil down to the hackneyed: East or west, home is best... It’s probably impossible to express verbally why you love your native country so much. And why it is only on this land that you enjoy life and all the troubles you encounter here seem insignificant. We thus forsake this idea now, to describe the feelings. Yet during the conversation I came to understand what the secret is.
The fact that anything she embarks on, she does it with love. Oksana has always accepted everything that happened to her with gratitude. She wanted to be happy, and she became one, in spite of everything or against all odds. With tenacity and perseverance, she took on this goal to be happy as a thorny objective.
Now she is trying on the role of director of the Academy of Artistic Gymnastics. Following the Tokyo Olympics, where Oksana announced her retirement, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev suggested that she establish and lead an academy named after herself. And that turned out to be a dramatic coincidence with her long-time dream.
Academy
- I remember you promised to learn Uzbek...
- I have learned it, - Oksana laughs. - At a construction site. I can be a forewoman. I swear professionally.
She had to become a forewoman, construction worker, director, as well as psychologist and nanny for the boys and girls who are admitted to the Academy. The issue of uniform became a serious stumbling block; parents want their child to do gymnastics, but they are confused by swimsuits.
- Now you can safely perform in overalls. I tell our parents, look, gymnastics is a popular discipline even in Arab countries, girls go out in full suits. Many parents don't know this. Many people do not know that gymnastics is where you can start a sports career in any sport. This is the basis on which you can put martial arts, boxing, running and jumping. Three or four years into gymnastics and then you can go to any discipline, and they take you at once, because you have coordination, you have stretching, you have brains.
- Brains?
- Sure. There is a rule: if you do poorly at school, you cannot become a good athlete. These are complex neural connections, your head and body are a single whole, in a split second you need to decide how to raise your arms, how to turn your body, how to push off and jump, how to coordinate. Without intelligence, you ruin your sports.
In addition, she has strict discipline at the Academy. Not everyone likes this, and, to be more precise, no one likes it. At a parent meeting, Oksana explains that there is no need to feed children with treats in secret from the coach; they receive exactly what athletes are entitled to. There is no need to constantly feel sorry for them, as in the manner “Oh, she’s picked a callus, she will miss the drill this time.” Oksana then ended up announcing that that’s it, the kids will go home only for the holidays, because when they come from home, they’re as fat as balloons.
And Chusovitina really doesn’t like rudeness in any form. She can kick anyone out if she notices that boys treat girls badly or are rude to cleaners and cooks.
The Academy is almost ready, all that remains is to deliver the equipment there. Oksana wanted everything posh, European, that will last at least fifteen years. It is easy to teach on such equipment. It’s expensive, but you better not even think of bargaining with Oksana when it comes to Uzbekistan’s standing in the international sporting arena.
Family.
- Oksana, you’ve got a good husband. No drinks or smokies, nor domestic violence.
- Yeah. I’m lucky.
He is Bahodir Kurbanov, a Greco-Roman wrestler, Asian champion. When Alisher, their son, fell ill and they went to Germany to treat him, he sacrificed his career for Oksana’s. Someone had to stay “at home” and solve all the pressing problems, and someone had to train. And Bahodir Isakovich put Oksana, Alisher, treatment, his wife’s training, alien mentality, livelihood and another wagonload of tasks on his own shoulders.
- I sometimes ask myself, would I have acted like him? And I think no, it’s too big a sacrifice.
- You’re slandering yourself...
- Nope, I mean it. And he always guards me from everything, protects me, solves all problems.
- Who’s in charge in the family?
- We don’t have any bosses. We decide everything together. He also has a character, but somehow, we’ve managed to live for 25 years. Twenty-five... flew by in an instant. Baha says that over the years I probably love him less, but I say, no, it seems our love has a cumulative effect.
- Mother-in-law?
- I adored her. Unfortunately, she is no longer with us. They have eight children in their family, they all love me. When I came to them, in Ishtikhan [a district in Samarkand region – trans.], for the first time, I didn’t know anything, and the younger daughter-in-law insisted that no one bother Oksana at all because of the constant training, and that there are enough people to cook.
- You are too happy, Oksana...
Pedestal
- When you stand on the pedestal with the anthem playing out loud, you think you did it, you managed it. Through all the difficulties, injuries, through pain and hellish work. After all, every time you compete with yourself. And I don't understand when people say that they can’t perform like me, “I won’t succeed”. Man, you haven’t even tried! But you have to go and try over and over again, until you succeed.
- While the rivals are all young and strong...
- Yes. I know all of them very well, I know who is capable of what.
- Meanwhile, the haters have been yelling that Oksana is already too old and that she needs to train children, not perform herself...
- Well, let them do what they love to do. Why do people like to decide what I should do?
In Tokyo, she announced that she was retiring from the sport. And after some time, she announced the resumption of her career, went to the Asian Games and reached the finals. And now she is preparing for the Olympics in Paris. The World Cup stages start on February 15, where she must take first or second place in the rankings. It’s not that simple either.
- I’m getting ready and I think I should get in, God willing. There, in Tokyo, I fell for the arguments of those around me, they said that it was time for me to finish. I will never do this again; I will only do what I myself consider necessary. In general, people are interesting, they say, stop jumping around, teach others. And when you come back with a medal, these same people say, you’re great, we believed in you. I don’t know a single athlete who went to the Olympics and didn’t dream of winning a medal. But if some predictor had told me that I would definitely not win, I would still go. It’s my life. And you never know what happens next, this is a very unpredictable sport. Sometimes you are 100% ready and you break down. While sometimes you win even if you didn’t prepare much. And then you can’t figure out how the heck that is possible. It is a good luck; the stars have aligned.
Her son’s illness taught her not to rejoice prematurely, nor to worry about failures. Her husband’s love helped her to endure and not break. Sports made Oksana a Legend. Uzbekistan made her Big Dream come true.
And she made herself happy. Since no one but she could do it.
